Nick’s a junior in high school, and he’s your average kind of guy. He floats by. But everything changes on night when he receives a strange phone call for his father — it’s a voice on the other end of the line that he doesn’t recognize and he takes a message. When the strange caller strikes again and this time his father is able to answer, Nick knows something unsettling is going on.
Little did he know how much his life would change when one of the deepest secrets his father holds unravels before him.
The Lucky Kind, Sheinmel’s sophomore effort, is a quiet book in the same style as her first novel, The Beautiful Between. It’s not a quick read, and much like Sarah Dessen does, Sheinmel really develops a world for her characters that is easy to fall into. The two make excellent readalikes for that and for their ability to delve into family drama in a realistic and relatable way.
But for me, The Lucky Kind was not as strong as The Beautiful Between, and it all hinges on the fact that Nick is not a believable male voice to me. He’s far too emotional and internally driven, set on making everything right between people in his world. Although there certainly are boys who are emotional, it doesn’t ring true here. This book won’t really reach male readers but I think that many female readers will appreciate the voice that Nick has, despite the fact it’s a little unrealistic.
Sheinmel has a way with writing interesting and evocative scenes — I wanted to keep reading, despite my disinterest and disbelief in Nick. The thread of the story was compelling enough to keep going, and perhaps most important to me was the fact this story did not drag. It’s a short book, clocking in at just over 200 pages, and I had enough interest to keep going. The big secret which Nick discovers about his father is believable enough, and I found the actual relationship that developed between father and son to be honest: there’s a lot of hurt going on with Nick and with his father in the big reveal, and as readers, we feel it. I would have liked knowing a little bit more about the mother in the story, but since this story really focused in on one thing, that could have added unnecessary weight.
Sheinmel excels at relationship building. Nick develops a relationship with a long time crush in the story, and I enjoyed seeing how that developed through the course of the book; not only was this relationship between them, though, it connected right back to the relationship that Nick and his father were having and the relationship that develops between Nick and the person on the phone. I’d say it even connected right back to the relationship Nick had with best friend Stevie, too. This year it seems there are a lot of strong books about family and the fluidity therein, and I believe The Lucky Kind offers a glimpse into this.
That said, I had to suspend a little bit of my belief in reading because the entire plot depended upon a single phone call on a land line phone. And while this alone isn’t necessarily unbelievable, the fact Nick said he depends upon that land line phone, particularly when it came to communicating with his friend Stevie, was hammered out more than once; a little dated, perhaps, for teen readers today, but again, not entirely problematic. But the issue lies in the fact that after the first couple of chapters when the big phone call plot is set up, everything is done via cell phone. Stevie is the last person Nick called on his cell phone. He only communicates with girlfriend Eden via cell phone. It was a thin string to unhatch the plot, but the narrative inconsistencies made the string even weaker.
The Lucky Kind will appeal to readers of realistic fiction, family stories, or sweet romances. Sarah Dessen fans will enjoy this, as will fans of Deb Caletti, and perhaps those of CK Kelly Martin. This wasn’t my favorite read of this year, but it does stand out a little bit as something different from much of what I have read. I liked the family dynamics, and I thought the ending offered something that wasn’t as open and closed as many other similar stories. Girl readers will probably find Nick an extremely likeable character, though I think they won’t necessarily buy him as realistic. I’d skip handing this one off to the boys, though, in hopes of reaching them with a good guy voice; but don’t brush off the fact that this character will still appeal to some boy readers who like more romantic stories (they do exist).
Book picked up at ALA. The Lucky Kind will be released May 10.